Riding breeches



H. z. lsAACS n 2,316,588

RIDING BREEGHES April 13, `1943.

Filed Dec. 9. 1940 I g. grime/vm T2 .A j .755505 Patented Apr. 13, 1943UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RIDING BREECHES Harry Z. Isaacs, Baltimore,Md. v Application December 9, 1940', Serial No. 369,344

2 Claims.

This invention relates to riding breeches, and has for its generalobjects to 'construct a garment of the class described having simple andeicient provisions for altering the garment in the region of the calfand knee for tting a stock sized garment to various figures.

'I'he conventional type of riding breeches to which the subjectinventive principle appertains comprises a pair of front panels and apair of back panels. The front panels are each of one piece, extendingfrom the waist band to the bottom of the leg, said front panels comingtogether at the front fly and narrowing as they descend, so that theycover less than half of the girth of the leg in the knee and calfregion. The back panels are each composed of upper portions which extendfrom the waist band to a point just below the knee, being joined in themid back, extending beneath the crotch, the thigh and knee portionsextending around the sides of the legs. The lower portions of the backpanels are separate pieces, each preferably constituted by two partsjoined in a longitudinal seam in the middle of the back of the leg, saidlower portions being stitched to the upper portions and extending aroundthe back and sides of the calf portion of the leg.

The purpose of making the lower portions of the back panels in twopieces is to enable the part which overlies the bulge of the calf to lieat agreater bias angle than the part which overlies the inside of theshin, as a better conformation of the garment to the curves of the legis thereby secured.

The lateral edges of the two piece lower portions of the back panelscoincide with the lateral edges of the one piece upper portions.

The lateral edges of the back and front panels are joined in inner andouter side seams. The inner side seam is usually overlain by aprotective patch, which may be of leather or other suitable material,and which is stitched to the adjacent portions of the front and backpanels. The outer side seam is customarily cleft for a suitable distancefrom the bottom of the leg, and furnished with suitable fastening means,underlain by a fly.

Now, if it were desired to make this conventional garment so that itcould be altered to make it larger in the knee and calf portions, theobvious way would be to allow excess material in either the inner orouter side seams or both of said seams. In altering such a garment,either or 4both of said side seams would be ripped and re-sewn,utilizing some of the excess material.

Such a mode of alteration requires complicated tailoring, for itinvolves, on the one hand, removing and replacing the patch, or on theother hand, resetting the fastening' means, including the fly associatedwith said fastening means. Such method of alteration is in common use,but is unsatisfactory, due to its complication.

The longitudinal seam between the two parts of the lower portion of theback panel does not, in the conventional garment, afford means forenlarging the knee or calf girth, for the cloth above the head of saidseam is integral and seamless, and there is no reservoir of materialabove said seam which can be drawn upon to effect the enlargement of thegirth of the legs of the breeches above the lower portion of the backpanel. l l

One of the objects of the p-resent invention is to provide ridingbreeches in which the upper portion of the back'panel in the knee andcalf zone is cut with a width in excess of the conventional width for agiven size of garment, said portion of the back'panel being formed witha cleft which will fall approximately at the middle of the back of theleg, and extending from the bottom of said upper portion upwardly to apoint above the knee zone, the two parts of the lower portion of theback panel being made of a width substantially coexten'sive with theWidth of the respective bottom edges of the upper portion of the backpanel on opposite sides of the cleft, and being united thereto alongsaid respective edges, the sides of said cleft and the adjacent sides ofthe parts of the lower portion of said back panel being stitchedtogether in a common seam which takes in the excess width of material,thus providing a reservoir of material on the inside of the seamavailable for future alteration of the garment.

Another object of the invention is to provide the back panel, in ridingbreeches of the type described, with a longitudinal seam in the mid backregion of the leg extending from the bottom of the leg to a point abovethe knee zone, having a margin of surplus material on the inside, alongat least one edge of said seam, available for alteratio n, the upper endof said seam terminating ata point distant from either of the side seamsof the leg of said garment, whereby in making alterations which extendto the upper terminus of said seam, it is not necessary to dissect theside seams. y

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following descriptionof a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

panel of the subject invention indicating the width allowance tocompensate for taking -in surplus material at the alteration seam,

Referring now in detail tothe several `figures, the numerals I and 2represent the front pan.- els, each of which is preferably a singlepiece of cloth extending from .the waist band 3 to the bottom .of theieg. -It will be noted that .below the hip bulge of' the garment thefront -panels narrow as `theydescend along the front of the legs, so asto cover less than :half the'. girth dimension of lthe legs,particularly in the vknee and calf zone. The front panels are joinedtogether along the median `longitudinal front `line 4 of the garment.

The back panels are as a Whole .designated f by the reference numerals 5and y6. Each back `panel is composed of an upper portion 1 .and a lowerportion 8. The upper portions of the back panels preferably extend from.the waist band 3 to a line 9 just below :the Aknee region. AThe lowerportions 8 are each formed of two parts I and II, said parts beingjoined by a seam I2 at the middle `of the back of the -leg. The backpanels are joined lin a longitudinal median s eam I3 in the back, andbelow the hip bulge, particularly in the knee and calf zone they embracemore than half the girth dimension of the leg.

:The back and front panels are joined together at their lateral edgesinto the .outer ,side seams I 4 and inner side seams I5. On accountofthe relative narrowness of the leg portions of the front panels, theinner and outer side seams in the leg regions appearY on the front ofthe garment when it is laid fiat, as `shown .in Figure 1.

Protective patches I6 and IAI, which may be of leather or other suitablematerial, are customarily placed in a position overlying the inner sideseams I and the adjacent portions of the front and back panels beingstitched to said panels. The outer side seams are usually provided withclefts I8 and I9 Vextending from the bottoms of the legs upward for adesired distance, and provided on opposite sides of said clefts withcooperating fastening means which may be a slide fastener IQ', andwithan underlying fly 20.

Everything that has been described up to this point is old in the typeof riding breeches to which. the present inventief; eppertains- Inaltering such a garment it is customary to leave a marginal surplus ofmaterial on the insides of either the inner side seams or outer sideseams, or both,V and in altering, to rip the side seams upward Vfrom theclefts I8 for the desired distance and to rre-stitch said side seams,letting out the desired amount of surplus material in making theenlargement. Such an alteration requires that the protective patches I6and I1 be first removed, erthat theI fastening device be removed andreset, together with the iiy. This, Y

as has been stated in connection with the objects of the presentinvention, is a complicated tailoring job, and while it is the customarymethod employed for making alterations in the knee and calf portions ofriding breeches, it is unsatisfactory and frequently very poorlyexecuted.

Referring to Figure 4, which shows the conventional back panel it can bereadily understood that the longitudinal seam I2 which joins the twoparts I0 and II of the A lower back panel is not useful in altering theleg inthe calf and knee zone for the material just above the head 2-I ofthe seam I2 is a flat integral piece of cloth to which the parts I0 andII are stitched fand 4which prevents the letting out of any surplusy.material which might have been provided on the inside margins of theseam I2.

The subject .invention provides a special alteratien .seam 22 extendinglongitudinally along the back panels from the bottom of the lower edgeof the upper portions '1 of said .back panels v.to .a'point 2.3. abovethe @knee zone, and intenrxediate the inner and .enter .side edges. I4and linalisnment with the seams 1,2 which join the I'parte whichconstitute .the lower'portions -8 of Said back panels. In order to adapt,the :alteration seams 22 to perform their function, the construction ofthe back panel is as follows, reference -being had particularly toFigure 5. 'The `lower part of the upper portion of the back panel whichextends below the upper ter-minus 23 of the alteration seams is cut witha width in excess of the width of the corresponding part of theconventional back .panel shown in Figure 4, by an amount eqnal uto thedesiredvsurplus of material which is to be incorporated into' the;alteration seam. Figure 5 indicates in the convergent broken lines :24and 25 the line along which the alteration seam will be stitchedtogether, the triangular `area between said broken lines representingthe `available excess of material .which may be incorporated on theinside of .said seam and later let outl for alteration purposes. Thelower part of I-the upper portion 'l of the back 4panel will be madesuiiiciently wide so vthat when the lines 24 and 25 are brought intocoincidence and stitched together, the width of the lower part of saidupper portion-of theback panel will be the .same as the width of thecorresponding part in Figure 4. The upper portion of the back panel ispreferably formed with a longitudinal cleft 26 extending from the bottomedge 9 of said upper portion through the middle of the area which willbe taken in by the alteration seam and extending the full length of saidseam.

The parts I0 and I I Which constitute the lower portion of the upperpanel are made of correspondingly increased width and are each stitchedto the respective portions of the bottom edge 9 on opposite sides of thecleft 25 forming a transverse seam which, as shown in Figure 5, extendsthrough the surplusage area which is taken in by the alteration seam.The adjacent edges 21 and 2B of the parts I0 and II form a continuationof the cleft 2S. The broken lines 29 and Sil indicate a continuation ofthe alteration seam 22 across the lower portion of the back panel, andthe rectangular areas between the broken lines 29 and 30 represent thesurplusage of material which will be taken in on the inner side of thatpart of the seam which crosses the lower portion of the back panel andwhich together with the triangular portions between the lines 24 and 25constitute the reservoir of material to be drawn upon in enlarging thegarment.

In the completed garment the alteration seam is sewed together along thecoinciding lines 24 and 25 and 29 and 30, the appearance of the backpanels being as shown in Figure 2, the seams 22 and their continuations,the seams I2, appearing as a simple line extending down the back of theleg portions of the garment. In making the alteration it is necessarymerely to rip the seams I2 and 22 and to take in or let out as muchmaterial as may be required.` The seams are then restitched. It isobvious that the side seams do not have to be disturbed, nor d0 thepatches I6 and I'I or the fastening device I8, nor the ily 20 have to beinterfered with.

It has been heretofore proposed as an alteration expedient to provide aninsert in the legs extending to a point above the knee, one side of theinsert coinciding with the outer side seam, and the other side of theinsert constituting an alteration seam which has its terminus in theouter side seam above the knee zone. Such an insert is not adapted for agarment of the type to which the present invention relates, inasmuch asit cannot be practically employed where the lower portions of the backpanels are constituted by separate parts having a relative bias anglebetween one another, and with the upper back panels to which they aresecured. Furthermore, where the alteration seam of the insert runs intothe side seam, it becomes necessary to dissect the side seam at least inpart, lshould the required alteration extend to the upper terminus ofthe alteration seam.

While I have in the above disclosure described which I believe to be apreferred and practical embodiment of the invention, it will beunderstood to those skilled in the art that the specific details ofconstruction and the arrangement of parts as shown and described are byway of example, andnot to be construed as limiting the scope of theinvention defined in the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. Riding breeches including leg portions for embracing the legs in thezone of the calf and knee, said leg portions each comprising front andback fabric panels united laterally in inner and outer side seams, saidback panel comprising upper and lower portions, the lower portion ofeach back panel comprising two parts in lateral close adjacency stitchedto the bottom edge of the upper portion, the upper portion of said backpanel having a longitudinal cleft intermediate thev inner and outer sideseams, extending from the line of juncture of said upper with said lowerportion to a point above the knee zone, and in substantial alignmentwith the line of separation between the parts of said lower portion,said cleft, including said line of separation being closed by analteration seam uniting the sides of said cleft and the parts of saidlower portion, along a continuous line remote from the edges of saidcleft and the adjacent edges of said parts, thereby providing marginalsurplus of material on the inside of said seam substantially throughoutits length. f

2. Riding breeches including leg portions for embracing the legs inthezone of the calf and knee, said leg portions each comprising front andback fabric panels united laterally in inner and 'on the inside of saidseam, which surplus includes portions of said transverse seam.

HARRY Z. ISAACS.

